Living Adventure

The Endless Gear Quest

I’m live chating with an outdoor gear company right now. I’m looking for a handheld GPS that I can load maps into and charge from a USB port. I’m not sure if this exists.

They aren’t sure if this exists either…

I’m sitting here sipping Chai and looking forward to the day I can finally push my sailboat back in the ocean and crash along through the waves and get soaked with salt spray. Once I get there I’ll probably be wet and miserable and ready to do anything for a warm cafe and a cup of Chai. Such is life though eh?

Turns out it does exist. Sort of. For about $400…

Now, this is a little steep…and for half the price I can get pretty much the same thing on AA batteries but with double the battery life. I tell ya, I’m clearly not the one designing this stuff! I’ve spent many hours in the backcountry critiquing my gear and I dare say I’ve come up with one or two good ideas over the years.

My gear genius is a topic for different time, as is the effect of capitalism and marketing on equipment design…don’t even get me started! This stuff is made by people who want to sell it, for people who want to buy it, and here I am just trying to use the damn thing…any way…

Turns out a little finagling solves my GPS issues…Voltaic Systems comes through yet again with a USB powered AA battery charger. It also charges AAA batteries. It can also use AA batteries to charge USB powered devices like you phone. It also costs $10. Ten bucks! Brilliance.

Geartrade comes in with round two, some guy got a GPS as a gift but is “more of a map and compass guy” so he’s passing it on. I can relate, I’m “more of a map and compass guy” too until I’m on a big ocean in a little boat and can’t see anything…then I’m perfectly happy to have a GPS saving my ass. Geartrade hooks me up with a GPS for $80, it’s an older model and the screen resolution isn’t great, but I can’t beat the price.

Both these sites have hooked me up with amazing gear over the years and earned their rare exception to my rule of not promoting sites that sell stuff.